What are the best gloves/ wrist guards?

[Chris50]

To anyone who can provide feedback, it would be much appreciated…..I’m 50 years old with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis who has fallen in love with this awesome sport of EUC riding. But I need to be as safe as I can in the event of a crash. Therefore…

What brand and model of gloves do you ride with?  
 

Do you wear gloves while at the same time wear wrist guards over the top of them?

I’ve got a 35% off discount with Leatt and I’m hoping that I can purchase a good set of gloves with them (I’m currently only wearing wrist guards that Ewheels sent me when I purchased my Kingsong 16X and Veteran Patton from them.)

[Cerbera]

It's an interesting subject I have thought a great deal about, and tried a number of solutions for over the years.

Previously, and for early adopters there wasn't much specifically in the market for EUC riders, so we all borrowed ideas from the BMX, cycling, and sport worlds to improvise decent solutions. More recently there are now about 5 different types of EUC specific gloves, but I remain unconvinced that any of those are the holotype solution, and predictably, they are a bit high on the $$$ side of things...

These are the requirements for EUC riding gloves, roughly in order of importance:

1. Palm slides / wrist brace bars (often the same thing).

We usually slide, palms down in most crashes, and our gloves need to not stick to the ground when that happens - they need to slide along it, and therefore send you gracefully swan diving to a stop, rather than scorpion-ing over your hands and hyper-extending your wrists in the process, which (take my word for it) hurts for SO long afterwards if it happens to you and is extremely debilitating for computer or phone use afterwards ! Worse still, I was a piano player at the time, consequently out of work for 4 months because of the damage I did to mine in one freak, low speed pothole-related accident, and the ONLY time I had ever not worn wrist guards. I sure learned my lesson that day !

2. Finger protection

We need gloves that cover ALL our fingers (except perhaps in the hottest of weather where you may be prepared to take the risk of fingerless gloves) so that when they go sliding about we are not scraping the skin off them. Also we need them for warmth in the winter, and generally because we are always having to grab things as EUC riders, and lot of the things we sometimes have to grab can fight back ! (thorns / foliage, fences or posts that slip or want to twist fingers in meshes etc etc).

3. Phone touchable fingertips for thumb and the next 2 fingers along.

4. Space for attachments

I have all sorts of bells, remotes, and straps covering a lot of my hands, and all these things need places to go that don't interfere with the safety of your wrist bracing.

There is another (shorter) list of things we DON'T need EUC gloves to do.

1. Knuckle guards - for me are useless and unnecessary, and only get in the way, particularly of trying to get stuff out of pockets, like when you might be trying to pay for something in a shop with a card for example ! IMO the back of hands need least protection, so no need at all for the massively bulky knuckle plates you find on MC gloves and even some of the newer EUC-specific gloves we can get now (You may notice me whinging about that in the comments :)).

2. We don't need any sort of 'extra' finger grips so avoid any gloves that have any rubber on the undersides.

So with all that in mind, what am I currently using and might recommend to others ?

This little combo of Summer cycling glove and skater wrist guards, which for me at least, is the best of all worlds, effective and surprisingly cheap !!

   

So, you see there my Leatt 5.5 body suit which comes down past the wrist and over the glove with no air gaps for cold winds to get in. The glove itself is lightweight, breathable, and has suede grippiness JUST where we need it (upper palm pad and finger tips for gripping slippy roadside posts etc) and none elsewhere. The skeleton pattern, whilst it does fit the black and white thing I have going on is not principally a fashion choice, but actually makes communication with other road users / pedestrians very clear, eye-catching and visible. Easy to make your intentions clear when wearing those, even on dark, rainy, dusky days / nights ! My finger bell also fits over those gloves so the trigger is always right where I need it.

So that's our vulnerable fingertips protected yet they still work with our phones, and are not too hot for all but the very worst of Summer days.

Over those go the cheapest of cheap slimline skater wrist guards (1 or 2 sizes up from what you need so they fit over gloves), which provide the palm slide and the hyper-extension protection bars in one. The plastic there might look a bit on the thin side, but it is actually perfect, and having crashed in mine a fair few times over the years, know them to be ideal both in terms of flexure during impact and in innate slide-ability. Interestingly these particular ones are NOT sacrificial in the event of impact, and don't snap whilst saving your wrist, but instead flex enough to not break. Other models I have owned (like the 2 bar variants you may come across) which have much thicker bars DO break as they save you, so are 1-crash only affairs).

The E-wheels ones you have got are not chosen only because they are cheap - they are also IDEAL ! 

DEFINITELY DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY on LEATT PRO wrist braces like I did - total waste of time, and much more hassle than they are worth. They look cool, but are ludicrously overpriced at about 150 dollar per single one !!

So I'd say keep your LEATT voucher for their good value stuff, which is the body suits and dual axis shin / knee guards !

I also have space to attach my indicator remote where it is instantly reachable, never gets lost, and doesn't protrude quite far enough to screw up my palm sliding   I also have space on the back of my hand for a mirror if I ever wasn't happy with my helmet mount ones...

Lastly when it's VERY cold I swap out the cycling gloves for a pair of slimline leather ladies gloves (!), which are about the only lined gloves I can find that are warm enough AND fit under the wrist braces. As long as you get real leather, they will protect your fingers enough.

So, if you wanna copy me, these are the current gloves (they take a year of every day riding to wear through) and these are the current wrist braces.

Both on Amazon UK, but you should be able to find equivalents on the .com... and shouldn't have to spend more than $40 or so on both items.

So that's my cheap and cheerful, but I would argue ideal solution to all that ! Hope it helps..

Edited May 11 by Cerbera

[atdlzpae]

On 5/4/2024 at 9:49 PM, Chris50 said:

What brand and model of gloves do you ride with?

Cheapest ones from Decathlon. Faceplanted more than 10 times already with little issues. Total cost about $20.
You also need knee pads and elbow pads as well. During a faceplant you're gonna hit your wrists and knees 100% of the time.

Edited May 11 by atdlzpae

[Barefooter]

On 5/4/2024 at 2:49 PM, Chris50 said:

What brand and model of gloves do you ride with?

For the first couple years of EUC riding I used the eWheels provided wrist guards.  They have done the job in the few low speed mishaps I've had on either my V8S or Patton.  Last year I started worrying about finger damage if I had an unintended dismount from the Patton at 25-35mph so I now ride with hillbilly wrist guard gloves.  They have a palm guard and a back wrist bar to maybe keep your wrist from going too far back.  There are some things I don't like about them.  They are on the small side on sizes.  I am pretty tall with long finders and the XL size hillbilly gloves are very tight.  They have loosened some with wear but I would prefer they had more room.  The fingers are not touch screen friendly which is an issue at times.  On the plus side they were comfortable riding in 40F weather for 30 minutes.

Having said that...  I have been looking for a setup more like what @Cerbera has described.  Probably end up with Walmart special light duty work gloves that are touch screen friendly to go under the eWheels guards.  For cold weather will probably add a ski glove liner.   I suspect I won't be using the Hillbilly gloves very often.

[GothamMike]

Summer: triple eight wrist guards

https://triple8.com/products/wristsaver-wrist-guards?variant=32225249525897

Fall/Spring Hillbilly Full fingered gloves:

https://e-rides.com/product/hillbilly-full-finger-gloves/ (also on Amazon)

 

Dead of Winter: Snowboarder wrist guards under heavy ski gloves

Dakine at REI: https://www.rei.com/product/875825/dakine-wrist-guards

 

I only buy wrist guards with front and back protection.